#State senators

[hclib]

Senator Allan Spear Enjoys a Bike Ride

Senator Allan Spear (1937-2008) was the first openly gay man in the United States to serve as a state legislator. He was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and served for nearly 30 years, including a decade as President of the Senate. He was instrumental in including LGBT Minnesotans in the 1993 Human Rights Act, ensuring protection from discrimination in education, employment, housing, and more to the LGBT community.

Get out and enjoy a bike ride, like Allan! May is National Bike Month and Minneapolis Bike Month. Find more local bike history in our Tumblr Archive. 

Undated photo taken for the Surveyor, the Elliot Park neighborhood newspaper. Digitized in the Minneapolis Community Newspapers Photograph Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.

[jimbotimes]

L.A.'s Democratic Whopper is fast approaching

Are you ready? As of Wednesday, December 5th, there are just 90 days before L.A.’s March 5th primary election takes place throughout vote centers in Los Angeles and L.A. County. Offices up for election include: L.A. City Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. LAUSD Seats 1, 3, 5 and 7. L.A. County Board of Supervisors Districts 2, 4 and 5. L.A. County District Attorney District…

[reasonsforhope]

Less than three months after U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and her colleagues launched an investigation into the four major American manufacturers of inhalers, three of the companies have relented, making commitments to cap costs for their inhalers at $35 for patients who now pay much more.

25 million Americans have asthma and 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), meaning over 40 million Americans rely on inhalers to breathe.

Inhalers have been available since the 1950s, and most of the drugs they use have been on the market for more than 25 years.

According to a statement from the Wisconsin Senator’s office, inhaler manufacturers sell the exact same products at a much lower costs in other countries. One of AstraZeneca’s inhalers, Breztri Aerosphere, costs $645 in the U.S.—but just $49 in the UK. Inhalers made by Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Teva have similar disparities.

Baldwin and her Democratic colleagues—New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—pressured the companies to lower their prices by writing letters to GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Teva, and AstraZeneca requesting a variety of documents that show why such higher prices are charged in America compared to Europe.

As a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Baldwin recently announced that as a result of the letters they had secured commitments from three of the four to lower the out-of-pocket costs of inhalers to a fixed $35.00 rate.

“For the millions of Americans who rely on inhalers to breathe, this news is a major step in the right direction as we work to lower costs and hold big drug companies accountable,” said Senator Baldwin.

A full list of the inhalers and associated drugs can be viewed here.

It’s the second time in the last year that pharmaceutical companies were forced to provide reasonable prices—after the cost of insulin was similarly capped successfully at $35 per month thanks to Congressional actions led by the White House.

-via Good News Network, March 25, 2024

[lappyisgaming]

November’s here! Just here to say once again, don’t stop talking about Palestine! Never stop till Palestine is free! That a ceasefire comes! That Gaza gets all the humanitarian aid it deserves! Be thankful that some of us are able to live comfortably while thousands are facing death and destruction! Not just in Palestine, but in other places too! Congo faces devastation from armed militias looking to do coltan mining for one example! Armenians are being pushed out by Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey! Please, let’s speak for all of them, as much as we can!

I recently reblogged a post stating frustration over how it seems situations like these seem to turn into fads to say without doing anything. I can go on and on about how sorry I am but that will not do anything productive unless I go out there and actually push for things myself!

So much is happening in the world! So many people are dying voiceless when there are people who can help! Who should help!

Let’s be their voices! Let their stories be heard! We have resources that they may not have right now! Utilize them!

Free Palestine! Stop the violence in Congo! Protect the Armenians!

Let’s keep fighting! 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇦🇲

[biglisbonnews]

Bizarre Arkansas senator gets personal with witness and asks, "Do you have a penis?" The Arkansas Senate held a two-hour hearing today on Republican-backed Bill 199, which would allow a minor receiving any "gender transition procedure" to later sue the doctor for providing the care. But a distracted Sen. Matt McKee had other things on his mind. — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/02/13/bizarre-arkansas-senator-gets-personal-with-witness-and-asks-do-you-have-a-penis.html

[reality-detective]

EPIC. I don't know who this man is nor have I ever even heard of this man until today. Whoever he is - he’s now on the map. 🤔

[jstor]

Be all that you can be: read.

These timeless messages from Senator Claiborne Pell in 1968 resonate with us even today. His address on the importance of libraries and literacy programs highlights how these resources answer the millions of questions we have and why we should utilize them.

Explore the full video.

📽️ : Senator Claiborne Pell. Literacy and Libraries, 1968. University of Rhode Island.

[morganbritton132]

Erica, like she does every year for pride, posts a collage of pictures of her queer friends and family. This includes a picture of her and Tina, picture of her and Steve (and Eddie half cut out of the shot), a picture of Nancy and Robin, a picture of Steve, Nancy, Max, Mike, and El repping bi colors at a pride parade, and a picture of her and Lucas.

Lucas, in the comments under this post: ??????

Lucas, still in the comments: I’m not gay????

Erica: Bisexual

Lucas: No?

Dustin: What about your crush on Steve?

Lucas: What about YOUR crush on Steve???

[izzystizzys]

There is a scratch mark on the floor of the Council chambers that Mace has never noticed before. Not a deep one, mind, quite shallow. This matters because it’s making the white-hot pulse of agony stabbing through his eyeballs ebb momentarily. Then, he chances a glance upwards at the fidgeting Knight in front of them, and it returns in full force.

Huh, he’s never seen Oppo Rancisis’ face turn that colour before.

“Hmm”, Master Yoda hums, deep and scratchy. His expression is unreadable even to Mace beyond a baseline gremlinness, and the force with which he grips the edges of his seat is making his bones creak. Master of the Order you should become, they said. Follow the calling of the Force, you should. A fulfilling purpose, it will be. Mace is going to hunt the little goblin for sport when this is all over, and he’s going to laugh the whole time.

“Show us the livestream again, could you, Knight Parvo?” Yoda asks. Mace bursts a capillary, he’s pretty sure, and so does poor Knight Parvo, whose orange Mon Cala skin tips all the way into blood red with stress. “Most unusual, this is.”

“Absolutely not!”, Ki Adi intervenes before Mace has to, thank the Force for little mercies. Plo Koon’s tusks tremble slightly with either suppressed laughter or abject horror, maybe both, and Stass Allie has her head in her hands. “The holo stills should be enough”, Ki Adi proceeds to add, and Mace has to reconsider all feelings of grace he just felt towards his fellow Councillor.

He never wants to watch Yoda zoom in on someone’s abs again. Or Depa raise her eyebrows at the curve of thighs bent over the dripping front of a speeder.

“Speeder Wash For Our Troops”, his former padawan reads out loud from a still of what has to be hundreds of the things gathered in the public senate parking lot. “Fund Our Boys And Get A Wet Seeing-To!” The series of images features dozens of Coruscant Guard troopers in various stages of unkitted, gleaming and shining with soap suds and water. The fact that the whole thing is also massive shatterpoint after massive shatterpoint is, quite frankly, insulting.

“Well hello- oh dear”, Obi-Wan’s blue form crackles to life in his chair, followed by several sounds of choking that are definitely not him. Good, Mace thinks acidly. If he has to deal with this, then so does kriffing Skywalker. “I’m sorry, why am I looking at Commander Thorn using a washrag like a lasso on top of a speeder?”

“Oh, the Guard’s little fundraising project”, Bail Organa says, as he steps into the Council chambers. Normally, Mace likes the man well enough. Now, he just smiles and adds on, “I’ve already donated, in mine and Breha’s name. Remotely, of course.”

“The Guard’s fundraising speeder wash?”, Obi-Wan repeats, edges of his holo form flickering with what Mace suspects is Skywalker very unsubtly trying to edge in. Force, but the man really is horrible at any and all stealth, like kissing his secret wife in an open arena in front of his Master. “And they are fundraising for…?”

“GAR budget allocations have to come from somewhere”, Organa shrugs. “And with the tide of public opinion turning, they’ve been tending towards cuts. The Guard feels them more keenly than any other sector - they’ve been reduced from half to quarter rations, and medical supplies have not made more than a token appearance in the last draft. The Chancellor has cancelled three consecutive meetings on the matter, and thus it was agreed that a more hands-on approach was needed. Any surplus will go into the Army fund.”

“Surely it can’t be that dire”, Oppo protests, a slightly less concerning shade of purple now. Senator Organa shrugs again, jostling the smattering of cracks slowly building around his person in a way that makes Mace wince quietly. “It’s all publicly available data, Masters.”

It really can be that dire, as it turns out. And quarter rations is only scratching the surface of how dire, considering the Guard has apparently never had access to bacta in all their posting, and also includes requisitioning forms available to the Senate for reconditionings and decommissionings, two words Mace has only heard Ponds whispers amidst shuddering in the early days of the war before Shaak Ti went off and just about tore some throats out over it.

“Alright”, he concedes, rubbing at his temples. “Fair enough, we have failed to tackle a massive blind spot in the Guard’s well being. There is no Jedi assigned to Coruscant, and that’s an oversight on our behalf. But how in the everloving kriff did this get past the Chancellor and Commander Fox?!”

Who have both signed, black on white. Bail Organa smiles cryptically. “Well, if you scroll a bit past that one image, up to the industrial speeder in the back - Commander Fox is currently having credits stuffed into his codpiece in the back, I believe.”

“HE’S WHAT IN THE WHAT NOW”, Commander Cody screeches through the speaker of Obi-Wan’s holo image, and Mace has to summon every bit of Jedi-serenity he possesses in his body to keep from dropkicking a cackling Yoda through the chamber windows.

[intersectionalpraxis]

[notes-app-psychologist]

Hey

not only is the president up for election this year,

so is every member of the US House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate.

If you don't know who your congresspeople are, find out on the US congress website:

the congress we vote in is vitally important. If Harris wins the presidency, having a democratic congress will allow her to make the moves we want to see. If trump wins the presidency, a democratic congress will be all that can protect citizens against him. vote. vote blue. protect yourself and protect your community.

edit: 1/3 of the senate not 1/2

[dragonpyre]

Nothing more embarrassing than having an art installation revealed and shaking hands with a state senator while wearing joggers and a NASA shirt

[hedonist-aesthete]

"Are you a god-fearing man, senator?"

[destielmemenews]

"The House voted on Friday to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues."

source 1

source 2

source 3

[pineappleciders]

hey, have you heard of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)? it's a law that's been introduced to the US senate a few times now, and it's coming back. here's the most recent version of the bill.

wel, what would KOSA do? it's goal is to "protect children online", as the name would suggest, by having online content algorithms changed in the US. it'd also make it illegal for social medias and "addictive" internet feed to notify you at night or during school hours. the billmakers like to depict it as saving teenagers from body images, substance abuse , addiction and the likes, but it's not.

what KOSA aims to do is to shield children and teenagers from progressiveness. this law will create censorship for every single marginalized community, including POC, LGBTQ+, and women. this law is pure censorship and only aims to create less transgender folks in this "free" america.

i urge you to fight back. censorship laws are already being passed everywhere in america, and there is a very real chance this can be passed as well. if you value freedom on the internet, and especially if you're LGBTQ+, please take a moment to visit these links.

stopKOSA.com lets you sign a petition easily and directly call your lawmaker's office.

omarsbigsister's linktree has a script on what to say, as well as many resources on KOSA. (go check out @omarsbigsister on tiktok, she has good input on KOSA and is cool!!)

faxzero.com lets you fax your representatives FOR FREE 5 times per day.

while you are here, don't forget your daily click!

[theeiris16]

This is real. Stop sitting on the internet arguing with other people about celebrities. Who is who and all that bs. Ts is getting out of hand fr.

We’re taking multiple steps back in history. Everything your grandparents and great grandparents build is getting knocked down.

Mention these topics to your favs and get them to talk about it, yeah it maybe annoying but is getting scary out here and this shit will affect them too.

There is hundreds HUNDREDS of pages republicans have wrote that’s stripping minorities and women’s rights.

AMERICA HAS A FUCKING PROBLEM.